SHE ADDED FLAVOUR TO THE GOLDEN TASTE OF CEYLON TEA

by Thilak S. Fernando

She is charismatic, charming, talented and pretty. Something about her
personality makes even the passers-by in London turn their heads towards her to
have a second glimpse. To blend with her cheerful and happy disposition she has
been given the most appropriate name by her parents. She is Preethie, ( Happy),
and I met her in London once again nearly after a decade and a half.

It was purely by coincidence that I lifted my head towards the direction of a
gentle voice which resonated in my ears from where I was seated at the Sri Lankan
restaurant, Lihiniya, in Cricklewood, North West of London. I was not
hallucinated for sure, but there she was, Preethie Perera, only a few tables away
from where I was seated, enjoying a typical rice and curry meal with her daughter
Mihiri.

With unbelievable eyes I approached her to say hello. I had met Preethie, for
the first time in London, over fifteen years ago at a venue where no pair of
human eyes would have missed her presence at that time. While working at the
Ceylon Tea Centre at Piccadilly Circus thousands of foreign tourists, who dropped
in for a Ceylon Cuppa during their Oxford Street shopping spree, admired her as
a typical Sri Lankan beauty always in elegant saree, performing a public
relations task to the full.

Preethie, (nee de Silva) arrived in the UK at first in 1974, after a two year
assignment in India as a speech and drama teacher. As a person who has the
first-hand experience of living in England and Sri Lanka I thought she would be
the best role-model for many Sri Lankan housewives who still seem to dwell in
their own fantasy world believing that London is a paradise to live in. Preethie
s experience of living in two countries, therefore, would be a real eye opener to
many who do not seem to appreciate what they have been blessed with in Sri Lanka
!

I soon gathered that Preethie had re-visited London two months ago, after living
in Sri Lanka for 16 years, and even this trip has been only to settle Mihiri in
Goldsmith College, University of London, to enable her to pursue a Degree in
Information Systems & Management. Mihiri, born in London and having taken to Sri
Lanka at the age of two, had two ambitions in visiting London to see her much
talked about roots and to continue with her University education. In her own
right she has been a vocalist in Sri Lanka before she left Colombo.

Preethie had been a bright student from her young days and grown up in a family
environment full of love, and being spoilt to the hilt by her brothers and
sisters. From her early days she has acquired a positive approach to life and to
face challenges. It was that very spirit within her that made her go to India on
a teaching contract at such a young age. She managed it by scoring top marks at
an aptitude test when she was only 18 years old, just after her A levels and
successfully obtaining a Diploma in speech and drama at The Wendy Whatmore
Academy in Colombo.

When she went home on holiday after a two-year stint in India, she made a quick
decision to head towards London. In 1974, making her dreams come true, she
managed to find work at the Ceylon Tea Centre, Piccadilly Circus to add colour
personally to the flavour of the golden taste of Ceylon Tea. Her hardwork,
resolute character and ambition were further demonstrated when she managed to
sponsor her fiancÚ, Premalal to London to study Accountancy, within three months
of her arrival in the UK.

In London they got married and the couple settled down. Preethie continued to
work for a brief period at the Tea Centre while Prem became a qualified
accountant. Later she left the Ceylon Tea Centre and joined an English firm,
Smith and Nephew, to become the only Asian beauty in the entire firm. Having a
cascade of hair up to hip level Preethie still remembers how the sophisticated
English gentlemen would approach her in public transport, excused themselves and
felt her long hair with loaded complements and behaved in public impeccably those
days. Its quite different from now or even in Sri Lankan public transport she
adds. When their daughter reached the age of just 2, her husband made a
non-reversible decision to return to Sri Lanka and settle down. Therefore, much
against her Will, she had to leave her favourite London town in 1982.

Was it easy for her to get absorbed into the Sri Lanka life style once again
having lived in London for nearly 9 years? And what did she see in Sri Lanka ? I
put the questions to her.

Her first impressions of Colombo had been unbelievable with a changed skyline
depicting a mini western city with high rise buildings. Also what struck was the
fashionable houses which had sprung up, the exodus of people on the road
wandering about and the complete change of its environment. Despite how the civil
war in the country had an economic dilapidation on the social fabric she noticed
that, at least superficially, people seemed to dress fashionably and everyone was
money orientated. No doubt, it was a time when free market economy was given the
thumbs up and the local garment industry was cashing-in US dollars by the
millions, giving the local community also an infinitesimal opportunity of
purchasing a decent dress around Rs.150.

And that was in Colombo, but how about in her own home town Wattala ? It was a
different scenario Preethie would say. She found the gap between the haves and
the have-nots had deepened. She was painfully touched by a certain section of the
society, the middle class destitute, living in dire hardship and hopelessness and
being worse than beggars. They were a different entity who were desperate, but
were barred from going with a begging bowl due to the social stigma attached, she
noticed.

Going home straight from a British society where no one should, in theory at
least, starve because of the welfare benefits available, the predicament of her
own town people touched her deeply and emotionally to the extent that she joined
the Rotary International Club and became an inner wheeler to work for the poor at
Wattala.

In Sri Lanka she set up her own private school which is affiliated to the Wendy
Whatmore Academy of Speech and Drama. She also has Diplomas in Child Psychology
and The Montessori method of education .. Dealing with students up to GCE A level
on Speech and Drama she has become very much involved in counselling abused
children on her voluntary social service functions. Amidst such responsibilities
and pressure of work she has been managing a busy household smoothly and
disciplined and brought three children up giving them the same kind of love and
attention she received as a child. She believes that as much as discipline,
mothers love and mother-child bond is vital to a childs character building.

In between her free time, when her mind began to wander literally, she has been
writing modern English poetry which she wants to publish one day as an anthology.
Preethie says her classroom has always been an inspiring portal and her pupils
are the best critics of her work. She considers the poem titled Home Thoughts as
her favourite. This seems to have nostalgic memories of a felled mango tree in
her garden during her childhood and found missing on her return home from London.
The memories surrounding a huge swing which was on the mango tree still manages
to moisten Preethies eyes. Every time Ammi reprimanded us, Aiya and I used to
swing non stop until our feet touched the tree tops and I could still visualise
ammi screaming with fright, Preethie would relate her childhood experiences with
shining eyes and expression written all over her face which has by now gone pink
all of a sudden. Another area of Preethies talents has been oriental dancing
which she learnt from two well-known gurus in Sri Lanka Vagira and Hema
Maligaspe. Although she has toured the whole of Sri Lanka with Vagira and Hema
Maligaspe troupe, unfolding her fluid movements supple and graceful, today she
laments having given up her much loved hobby after becoming a housewife.

Having returned back temporarily to London after a sixteen-year spell what were
the changes that have taken place in London lifestyle, I asked her. The
population explosion appeared to be quite clear in her vision along with dirty
streets. London roads are not certainly paved with gold stones No way ! she
exclaims. Unemployment is rampant, cost of living has sky rocketed, public
transport costs an arm and a leg, never ending bills seem to eat up peoples
earnings, with the result of a huge refugee intake to Britain indecorous scenes
of Kosovan refugee women begging on the streets and inside the Underground tube
trains, have managed to change some parts of London into a third world city! A
sad spectacle in London which she could not digest was the unbecoming public
telephone kiosks infested with photocards of semi nude women advertising for sex
- in certain instances some Sri Lankan women too in bold print. What has happened
to the orderly behaviour of the Britisher at bus halts? She asks and answers
herself by saying that it has become worse than Sri Lanka when it comes to
pushing and breaking the queues when buses arrive! What did she have to say about
the punctuality of the London bus services ? At every bus halt there are printed
time tables giving specific times to expect buses but in practice there is not
much difference here now from Sri Lanka Its the same old story, when they appear
they come in convoys she emphasises. With Preethies speech and drama background,
her intonation itself is sufficient to give a clear picture to the listener to
understand to what extent the British system has been deteriorating over a period
of sixteen years !

London is certainly not a bed of roses, Preethi flashes a warning laser beam to
those who are dreaming of this wonder land. There are, of course, advantages and
disadvantages and one needs to rationalise and adapt to ones priorities if they
want to come and/or live here because life in London is a continuous slog, she
warns. "Many, even qualified, are compelled to do odd jobs to make ends meet".
She does not approve of what some of the Sri Lankans say about life in England
when they go home on holiday and paint a completely divergent picture where the
gullible become victims of such egotistical jabbering - a sad but a rotten
situation.

Talking of the youngsters in general Preethi refers to the teenagers at home as
becoming increasingly influenced by the American television. Americanism among
the younger generation seems to be contagious at present as kids seem to be fully
influenced with the American dress and the way they talk. In a way it is nice to
see the young being very smart as long as they hold on to their Sri Lankan
cultural values she adds.

Having seen, lived and experienced in two different worlds, she says there is
nothing like home for me where I can get back to my family and teaching. To
confirm what she said at the interview, she is scheduled to fly out of London in
December 99 . Her daughter Mihiri too decided to get back to Sri Lanka and
continue with the London degree from home where she could have best of everything
- a loving family unit, home comforts and simultaneously continuing with her
singing career. What did she, as a teenager see in Sri Lankan youngsters in
London compared with her Colombo clan? She confined her answer to one sentence -
" They are a nauseating lot!".